Firsthand Advice On An Email Delivery Mistake

We all make mistakes, learn from them

While in the act of preparing an email newsletter, have you ever set it to send to the wrong list? I unfortunately have, and to anyone reading this post that has recently received an email from me after unsubscribing from the Daily, I’d like to apologize.

How to fix this mistake

After a few moments of hitting your head against the proverbial wall (or the real wall next to your desk) you begin to wonder how to fix your mistake and make everything better in the world of email deliverability. It’s well known that sending emails to people who have unsubscribed to your list can result in spam complaints, which can in turn negatively impact your email reputation.

The first piece of advice is to be proactive. Be prepared to own up to your mistake and apologize to the extent that’s needed. Chances are those who directly make a complaint to you will understand after you’re honest with them and assure that it won’t happen again.

Stephanie Miller of Return Path is an expert in the field of email deliverability. Below are some helpful recommendations she has for anyone who ever encounters this predicament.

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Five Recommendations

1. Do not send any additional messages. This includes a specifically designed apology email. Even though it may seem like a good idea at the time to send an apology, another email going out to unsubscribed recipients may make things worse.

2. Make sure you and your staff are ready to apologize to everyone who directly complains.

3. Depending on the severity of the mistake, you could post an apology on your blog.

4. Meter your other emails. High complaints will hurt all of your mailings for the next 30 days, so be sure to send only what is necessary, even to subscribers who have given permission. Your sender reputation will be negatively impacted from this, but it will gradually ease back if you don’t receive a high number of complaints again.

5. Monitor senderscore.org to see if you got placed on any blacklists. Hope that you do not, because blacklists are a bad place to be. If you do end up on one, you will need to follow the guidelines for each to be removed. According to Stephanie, it can be an unpleasant situation.

Additionally, Stephanie recommends you speak with your ESP and/or an email deliverability consultant to see if they have any additional suggestions to proactively combat this situation.

Hopefully none of you will ever have to deal with this. However, from what I’ve been told, it isn’t horribly uncommon. So if you ever do find yourself in this position, you now have some firsthand, inside information to assist you.

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